X MARKS THE HEART III: Truth Of The Heart
by Denigoddess2001
Summary: Armand, Child Of Oberon, reveals much that Wren wished had remained secret. Because of meddling in human affairs, Armand and Wren must face the wrath of Oberon.


Denigoddess2001@aol.com  
Gargoyles/ X-Men crossover  
10/2/01 3:10:02 AM  
Pairing: Wren/ Remy Wren/ Demetrius  
Rating: unknown at this time  
Additional Notes: [BRACKETED WORDS INDICATE PERSONAL THOUGHTS OR TELEMPATHIC COMMUNICATION.]  
  
DISCLAIMER: GARGOYLES BELONG TO DISNEY. I DON'T OWN THEM (DAMN.) X-MEN BELONG TO MARVEL AND NOT TO ME. ALL OTHER LOCATIONS AND ORIGINAL CHARACTERS BELONG TO DENIGODDESS2001.  
  
  
Linoma Bluffs  
Summerlands Estate  
October 2005  
  
Wren's rainfall of tears seemingly seared Demetrius' broad shoulder. He held her trembling body as sobs wracked her being. Against the wall in the kitchen, his heart broke into a thousand shimmering pieces as she wept. Each tear became more precious than diamonds as they trailed along his ebony skin. With each tremor, he held her closer and wrapped his wings around her in the one gesture that he knew would soothe her troubled soul. He pressed gentle kisses to her horned brow and whispered tender words.  
  
"Please don't hate me, Demetrius." She finally whispered through harsh, ragged breaths. "I never meant for you to know. It was supposed to be in my past and then, when you mentioned Professor Xavier's book; all the memories came crashing down on me."  
  
"Milady, now I know why you hence guarded your heart so carefully." She looked up to see lavender eyes gleaming suspiciously bright. "Your love for him ran deeper than wellsprings of Scotland. It does still. To know you harbor such pain from the camps and the crimes committed against your people...your clan! By the Dragon, Milady! It is a torture beyond Tartarus! How do you bear it?"  
  
"It was a long time ago. To quote Nietzsche, 'what doesn't kill us makes us stronger." She snuggled next to him. "I love you. I find strength in our love."  
  
"You also love Remy." Demetrius voiced her unspoken emotions in his gentle Scottish lilt.  
  
"A part of me always will, Demetrius." She sighed. "But, I never thought I would feel love with anyone that completely again-"  
  
"-As you did with him. It is a rare wonder to know the blessing of an empathic joining. Yet, you have known it twice. I envy him." Demetrius growled quietly. "I had hoped that no man captured your heart as I have done."  
  
"No man can now." Her words were a vigilant declaration. "Only you."  
  
"He adored you." Demetrius looked down at his ladylove. "I felt his truest heart as I knew yours. His heart was inexplicably tied to you."  
  
"He cared about me, Demetrius." Wren laid her cheek against the powerful wall of the Gargoyle's chest. She found solace when she listened to the strong, solid rhythm of Demetrius's heart. "He loved Rogue. I just wasn't the girl that touched his heart."  
  
"He broke your heart and gave it to you in pieces." His eyes gleamed faintly with brilliant diamond fury.  
  
"Gargoyles aren't the only ones who shatter." Her eyes fell to the floor. "Armand said that he would name his price and that was it."  
  
"Armand asked you to let the one called Remy break your heart?" He asked incredulously. "I do not understand."  
  
"Armand broke Oberon's laws by helping me intervene on Remy's behalf. According to Oberon, he considers mutants as human, thus mortal. Meddling in mortal affairs is forbidden by Oberon." She studied a small crack that she noticed in the expensive Italian tile that lined the floor of her kitchen. "By doing so, Armand placed himself at the Elvin lord's mercy.  
  
[Demetrius, there's more....] She hid her flushed face in her lover's tender embrace.  
  
The hues and vibrant colors danced about them as she delved once again into their link. The maelstrom of emotion and memory threatened to devastate the Gargoyle's exotic mindset. Wren truly realized how different the Gargoyle Way was so different than that of humans. Gargoyles were without pretense or distraction. Their minds were clear of distractions and the clutter that diverted attention away to nonsensical matters. Their clarity of thought and lucidity of purpose was alien to her human mind. Demetrius' Gargoyle instincts rose to the surface in an upsurge of possession and tenderness as he held his mate in his arms.  
  
His mind reeled as their thoughts met and souls touched. Wren's mind dealt simultaneously with several different topics and concepts. While her mind diverted itself to the notice of outside stimuli, it rarely strayed from it's true thoughts. The Gargoyle-turned-Nightkind wondered how humanity remained sane with the endless assault of information invading their minds. Their chaotic emotions and mercurial natures made them seem unpredictable creatures enslaved to mental chaos. Wren's heartache for Remy battled for her continuing love for Demetrius. The ebony warrior knew that while great hearts loved alike, there were undeniable differences between them.  
  
He knew that if he lost himself inside Wren's mind, there would be no return to reality's realm. Yet, he cared at the moment for Gargoyle reserve and resolute thought. He cared only to see the gaping chasm of her heart and soul find healing from the pain she battled to keep repressed. He knew her sanity depended upon whatever absolution she sought in sharing this ordeal with him.  
  
**********  
1997  
  
She watched Armand pilot the plane that headed toward New York. She moved forward until she sat in the co-pilot's position beside him in the cockpit. She marveled how different Armand DeVoe, human, was from Armand, Child of Oberon. Short black hair was perfectly styled while wire-rimmed frames framed dark blue eyes. He had an intelligent brow and distinct features. He had a studious and collegiate appearance about it.  
  
For several minutes he flew the plane in silence. Wren realized it was unlike her friend to be reticent. Normally, he chatted with her at every opportunity. Wren simply wanted to know what bothered her friend so much that he seemed dour and taciturn.  
  
"Penny for your thoughts?" Wren turned in Armand's direction.  
  
"Nothing." His terse response spoke volumes. "Simply concentrating on the flight plan."  
  
"Since when is a Child of Oberon worried about flying?" She quipped. He gave her a sharp look. "One blink and we could be there in three seconds."  
  
"I enjoy the simple wonders of being human. I find that with routine comes serenity." He flipped the switch on the console to autopilot. Armand removed his glasses and folded them neatly. "The sweetest victories are savored best when they are earned rather than taken. Though, I may not enjoy my humanity much longer."  
  
"What do you mean!?" [I don't like the way this is sounding.] Her mind cringed.  
  
"I have broken Oberon's cardinal law by intervening in mortal affairs. By aiding you in your quest to save Remy's life, I have altered his fate."  
  
"I don't believe in fate." She scoffed. "Fate is the result of resignation. Destiny is the manifestation of aspiration."  
  
"What fortune cookie did you read to get that?" A wry grin crossed his handsome features.  
  
"I didn't. I know for a fact that anything can be possible."  
  
"You are Fortune's child, Wren. You are outside the dominion of fate. You have the ability to alter time itself."  
  
"If you call making doors close and china rattle time-altering." She folded her arms and stared hard at the man beside her. "It works well at the craps table and at Blackjack. That's about it."  
  
"We circumvented Remy's death with our intervention. Your probability manipulation and my magick aided that intervention. Somehow, the Wyrd sisters knew of it. They told Lord Oberon." His brows creased in worry. "I have been summoned to Oberon's court to stand trial."  
  
"What kind of bullshit is that?" She exclaimed loudly. "Oberon must have his head shoved so far up his-"  
  
"Now, now!" Armand cut off her expletive. He brought a finger to his lips to hush her harsh words. His eyes darted around. He tapped on his ear. "There's no need for such language."  
  
"So, let me come with you!" She exclaimed angrily. "Let me explain to Oberon that I made a bargain with you. You said that I am no mere mortal; I'm a mutant. Remy's a mutant. So, the laws that normally bind you don't apply in this scenario."  
  
"Unfortunately, they do." His crisp, Scottish lilt sounded heavy to her ears. "Remy is human."  
  
"Yeah, well there are some humans that would beg to differ with that statement." Wren looked out the window. "Some humans would see us annihilated."   
  
"In your case, dear girl, you are absolutely right." Armand's grave words caused the young woman to cast her gaze upon the worried pilot.  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
"They also apply to you." Armand watched as Wren's face paled.  
  
"No, they don't. I'm not a Child Of Oberon." She shook her head in adamant denial. She held up her hands as if to ward away the words. "Mutants are Homo Sapiens albeit the next step in evolution. I am human."  
  
"There is much I have been meaning to tell you, Wren." Armand cover her hand with his. "I've been meaning to tell you for some time. Time is a dwindling resource for me. Soon, Oberon's Wyrd sisters will find me and drag me back to Avalon. So listen well and know why I have made my way to the mortal world and act as your guardian."  
  
The next two hours Wren sat mutely as Armand discussed his true nature. He was indeed a Child of Oberon from the mystic isle of Avalon. An arresting trickster caught his eyes and claimed his affection. Puck was the wondrous creature that captured his heart and devotion. Wren's brows arched in disbelief when Armand explained that he and Puck became lovers and mates.  
  
"Okay, today is just FULL of surprises. Where'd I put the wine cooler?" She rummaged through her duffel bag. "This is too Twilight Zone even for me. What the hell does your lover have to do with little ol' me?"  
  
"In a roundabout way, it has everything to do with you." He replied sternly. He placed an insistent hand on her arm. "Make light of it if you will, but you are the crux that brings this all together."  
  
"Really?" She screwed off the top of the wine cooler and took a generous swig. She held up her bottle in a toast. "To normalcy."  
  
"That you'll be having little of in the days to come if all falls around us." He rebuked the young brunette in the seat beside him.   
  
"So, what's the tale? How am I the center of this melodrama?" She let forth a hard laugh.  
  
"Ah, the time for revelation." Armand gleefully rubbed his hands together. "Are you sure you wish to know?"  
  
"I think I need to know."  
  
"Puck and I knew a love pristine and sublime beyond compare." Armand checked the gages to make certain all things functioned within established perimeters. He returned his attention to Wren. "Our kind take love in whatever form it comes to us."  
  
"That saying is a keeper." She toasted him in agreement. "Mind if I use it?"  
  
"Wren! Be serious!" The raven-tressed male adjusted his glasses. "A millennia ago, we were all exiled from our homeland by Lord Oberon because of our arrogance regarding Humans. He forced us to live among them and intermingle with them. Puck and I remained lovers. Yet, he took fancy with humans from time to time. I overlooked his indiscretions because my heart belonged only to him. One of those indiscretions was Elizabeth Claire O'Hara."  
  
"You must be joking. Elizabeth Claire O'Hara was my mother's mother. She was happily married to Robin Goodfellow-"  
  
"You haven't read much Shakespeare, have you, m'dear?" He raised a querying brow.  
  
"You're saying that Robin Goodfellow is actually -" She choked on her words in mid-sentence as she spit out her wine cooler. She pointed wordlessly to him. "That he wasn't even HUMAN. He's like you? He's a Child Of Oberon?"  
  
He tapped his temple. "Now, you're catching on."  
  
"So, does that make me a Child Of Oberon?"  
  
"That's a difficult question with no certain answer."  
  
Wren leaned forward in her seat toward her old friend. "You know something."  
  
"Indeed. Puck never wished to see you submit to Oberon's will. Your mother seemed to inherit your Grandmother's humanity. You, however, showed signs of an early age that you were proficient in the ways of the Fae."  
  
"I'm a Mutant." She exclaimed. "I am Human."  
  
"You are what you are." He shook his head in amusement at her denial. "Who knows what that might be? Puck took love wherever he found it without regard to the hurt it caused others. He always thought me the dour sort. We returned to Avalon for the Gathering. I hadn't seen him in fifty years. He wished to remain in the company of humans. I longed for us to return to our sacred home and resume our life there. He feels he can learn more here in the world of men. Yet, he has yet to honor all his responsibilities. He has no obligation to your mother; she is mortal. However, he knows of his obligation to you."  
  
"Robin owes me nothing." She spat. Wren looked away in disgust. "He died when I was young."  
  
"Children of Oberon never die. We're immortal." Armand explained quietly as took her hand. "Wren, you show signs of being much more than mere mortal. You can know the tongues of the ancients merely by focused concentration upon the spoken word or script. You know the languages of the Cosmos simply by relying upon your ear. That is no mortal gift. You have the ability to alter fortune to favor you. He knows that you must be schooled in your ways. He also knows you have a right to a life free of Oberon's influence."  
  
"What? How powerful is Robin...er...Puck...whoever the hell he is?" She took another gulp of the Pina Colada wine cooler. "What does this have to do with my love for Remy?"  
  
"Puck didn't know of your abilities until well after your internment in the camps."  
  
"He assumed I was normal."   
  
"Yes." Armand hung his head. "In petty revenge, I didn't tell him until recently of your profound abilities. Because of certain restrictions placed upon him by Lord Oberon, he is unable to come aid you in such practices. It might be that you'll learn your lessons at the Xavier Institute."  
  
"I see." She took her hand away from his.  
  
"Puck has asked me to look after you and give you whatever you need, as a favor to him." Armand wiped at his eyes. Wren thought she heard a catch in his voice. "After all this time, I cannae deny him nothing. He holds my heart hostage and I don't want it back. So, I aided you in your quest to save Remy's life."  
  
"At the price of breaking Oberon's law and now you are at risk. Why can't your...my...HE do anything about this?"  
  
"As I said, he's currently banned from Avalon and bound to human form."  
  
"Robin is Alive??" She asked excitedly. She clutched tightly Armand's shoulders. "Where is he? When can I see him? Why hasn't he contacted me?"  
  
"You were never to know the truth. He felt it best you be allowed to rebuild your life without his interference. It seems his current persona has a rather restrained sense of honor. I find it ironic that he plays such a tense stuffed shirt. It's not at all his thing."  
  
"You make him sound so uptight."  
  
"He's a bit like you actually." The chuckle filled the small cockpit. "You would both do well to let your hair down a tad. Now, it is time for me to ask my price of you."  
  
"My price?" She echoed his words. Then Wren remembered his words from not so long ago. "Lass, Ye know that there's a price to be exacted for invoking a Child of Oberon."  
  
"What is your price?"  
  
"Leave Remy alone. Let him love Rogue. That might appease Oberon." Armand pleaded. "If you leave him be, then he won't take notice of LeBeau and perhaps he'll be lenient with me."  
  
"You want me to give up the man I love?" Tears welled in her eyes. "I am not like ...Puck. I don't stray from my loved ones because I have a fickle heart. I don't leave him just because you ask me."  
  
"Are you reneging on our bargain?" He asked in a dangerous voice.   
  
"Let me ask you this; this price for 'invoking' you, that applies to mortals?" Wren bit her lip in contemplation.  
  
"Yes...." He said slowly not quite catching her meaning.  
  
"It's not known if I'm mortal, correct?" She nodded as the pieces of the plot came together in her mind.  
  
"Yes." Armand nodded.  
  
"Then, perhaps, you didn't meddle directly in human affairs. Perhaps, I did." Her eyes narrowed. "Oberon can't punish you if you weren't the one who actually saved Remy. I saved him. You just brought me to him. So, the guilt is mine."  
  
"You donnae understand, lass! If that be the case, then his wrath would fall to you."  
  
"Is he a fair lord?" Wren asked.  
  
"Indeed."  
  
"Is he honorable?"   
  
"Most definitely."  
  
"If I meddled, at the time I didn't know my true heritage and I acted out of ignorance and not defiance. You weren't sure of my heritage and therefore there is insubstantial evidence that you meddled in Human affairs. At most, what would Oberon do?"  
  
"He may banish you from Avalon."  
  
"That would not be a problem." She shrugged. "I've never been there."  
  
"He might strip you of your powers." Armand whispered. "You'd be only human."  
  
"Again, fine by me." Wren sighed. "If I were only human, then I could lead a normal life without looking over my shoulder each day. I get tired of knowing there are people out there who hunt my kind simply because of their superstition."   
  
Armand turned forward and studied the dials on the dashboard. He gasped when he diverted his gaze to the sky before them. "My Dear, I think you will have your chance."  
  
Wren watched as several winged creatures came towards them. They possessed wings of giant bats. Others had colored wings akin to butterflies. Some had wings of squirrels. Wren's quick mind counted twenty in all. Armand flipped the dial off autopilot and assumed manual control.  
  
"What the hell are those things?" Wren screeched as she watched the blueness of the sky darken to deepest night. "What the hell is going on?"  
  
"Those are Gargoyles."  
  
"They're what?" She planted her face against the glass as she watched two of them grab hold of the wings and guide the plane downward. "What are the doing?"  
  
"They're forcing us to land."  
  
"Can't you do something?" She watched in horrid fascination as the demons buried their talons into the metal of the plane as though it were soft clay. "If they hit the engines or the gas tanks, we're toast."  
  
"I know."   
  
Wren's eyes locked with a creature that seemed more like a demon. She had skin the color of summer leaves and strange bony plates that protruded from her forehead. Scarlet hair flowed easily in the gusts of winds. "I'll be damned it these goblins are going to bring us down."  
  
Wren focused her concentration into the very sky around them. She closed her eyes and felt the energy surge within her. Slowly the levels rose and her skin tingled. As the energy intensified, a faint emerald glow surrounded her hands. She fixed her gaze on the wings where the two Gargoyles had captured the plane. They looked in surprise as the verdant energy coursed along the metal seems of the plane until it emgulphed the entire plane in a verdant halo.  
  
The plane lurched violently with an abrupt motion. Armand bucked forward and Wren smiled as the bump freed the plane from the demons' clutches. Their eyes widened in fascination while a slow smile came to Wren's face. "You'll have to do better than that, winged freaks."  
  
"Good show, Wren." Armand cheered her.  
  
"Armand, do something." She turned to him. "Don't just sit there."  
  
"Alas, I cannae." His grim face cast terror into the depths of her heart.  
  
"Why NOT???"  
  
"Because of him."  
  
"Of Whom?" She felt the panic rise within her when she saw three more Gargoyles grab onto the plane. She turned her attentions to the jet engines. Her eyes came alive with brilliant green fire. The poor Gargoyle closest to the engine received a sudden burst of flame to his midsection. He tumbled helplessly downwards.  
  
"Look ahead." Armand nodded in front of them.   
  
"Omigod." She whispered. "Who is that?"  
  
Wren saw a figure floating midair that illuminated the darkest night. With flowing white tresses and garbed in crimson and azure, he carried the stern demeanor of a jealous god. His face revealed his obvious displeasure at Wren's use of power against his winged minions. As they approached him, she noticed his lips move.  
  
She aimed all of her energies toward the imposing figure in front of her. He became another victim surrounded by the potent aura of her probability manipulation. He quirked his head and she swore he laughed. She drew back in her seat as the emerald radiance made a path toward her. She felt a violent lurch as the plane once more hit air turbulence. She crashed forward and her brow found the sturdy, ungiving edge of the dash. Blackness claimed her as she heard Armand's fateful answer to her last question.  
  
"That is Oberon."  
  
*************  
  
  
  
1  
  
  



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